Fund the Cause

Make a tangible difference right now

Your financial support will help us keep our highly efficient model running so we can continue to serve local children in need, while also providing a meaningful opportunity for families, companies and organizations to come together and give back to the community.

Help Children and Families Right Here in Your Community

Our volunteers prepare tens of thousands of customized KidPacks to distribute to local kids year-round. In the summer and fall, we distribute backpacks filled with age-appropriate supplies as well as KidPacks with clothing and personal items through our Ready for School initiative. From October through March, we focus on providing the winter coats and other warm items that children need here in Chicago.

What’s more, Charity Navigator has recognized us as a Four-Star Charity for eight years and counting. It’s a tribute to our financial efficiency, accountability, and transparency. Donors can be confident in Cradles to Crayons.

Why Cradles to Crayons?

Cradles to Crayons volunteers prepare customized packages for tens of thousands of local kids, which we distribute during each of our four seasonal campaigns. We do it efficiently and with a high level of accountability and transparency. That’s why Charity Navigator has recognized us as a Four-Star Charity for 8 years and counting. And why the dollars you give will make a real difference in your community. Learn more >

Ways To Give

Giving Recipes

Explore our Giving Recipes to learn more about innovative ways to incorporate giving back into your next event. You can also visit our Giving Recipes page for information on how to get involved in your community.

Leadership Giving

We offer many opportunities to get involved in a hands-on way: in our Giving Factory, at community events and more. We also offer larger ways to give back – through leadership councils, our Family Leadership Circle (FLC) or other planned giving.

More Ways to Give

The financial support we receive from individuals, families and companies is what sustains our year-round mission on a daily basis. With this in mind, we make it easy to donate funds by accepting them in various forms, including stock, dividends and other planned giving.